This invention relates to a playing card dispenser and more particularly to a playing card dispenser of the type that is herein designated to be a Monte Verde type. A Monte Verde card dispenser or shoe is one that provides a continuous shuffling of one or more playing card decks so as to effectively cause a playing card deck of a finite number of cards to simulate a deck having an infinite number of cards.
The Monte Verde continuous shuffling card dispenser is particularly applicable to the game of Blackjack or Twenty-One. It is applicable to other games such as Bacarrat.
At present, Blackjack or Twenty-One is one of the most popular card games played in gambling casinos throughout the world. The game is played by a wide variety of players ranging in ability from novices to card counting experts.
Even though different rules and techniques may apply in different casinos throughout the world, all games of Blackjack are fundamentally the same. The object of the game is quite simple, the player strives for a total that is higher than that achieved by the dealer without the player "busting". A player busts when his card total exceeds twenty-one, hence the game is sometimes also called "Twenty-One".
The mechanics of the game of Blackjack are relatively simple. A dealer, who is employed by a casino, deals in succession to each player and himself a first and then a second card. Each card from the deuce or 2 through ten (10) has a value corresponding to their face value. The picture cards king, queen and jack each have a value of ten whereas any ace may have a value of either one or eleven. Each player in succession is questioned as to whether or not he wishes an additional up card after being dealt the first two and he receives additional up cards until he stands or busts. His goal is to achieve a higher card value total than the dealer without busting, that is without exceeding a total of 21.
The player normally has a wide variety of playing options including:
1. When, where and duration of play. PA1 2. Size of wager (from the house minimum to the house maximum), and PA1 3. Complete freedom of choice in playing strategy within the house rules, including drawing, standing, doubling down, splitting pairs, varying wager size from hand to hand. The player also may have surrender and insurance wager options.
The player is disadvantaged in being forced to make his playing decisions before the dealer acts on his casino hand. Thus the player in playing first must surrender his hand and wager if his total exceeds 21 when drawing cards whereas the dealer does not return the player's wager if the dealer subsequently also busts. On the other hand, the dealer faces the disadvantage of being limited to a rigid predetermined strategy. The dealer must draw cards until he attains a specified total card value such as 17 or higher and then he must stand. Normally, the casino still has the better of the advantage and, absent extraordinary circumstances, wins more than it losses.
Mathematically inclined players have discovered a scheme that can outweigh the casino's advantage. This scheme is called "card counting". The game of Blackjack is dealt either from a "shoe" containing one or more card decks or out of hand by the dealer. As the cards are dealt, the deck composition (i.e., the cards remaining in the deck) can change radically. It is possible, by relatively simple counting techniques, to take advantage of the knowledge of the deck content in the determination of wager size and playing strategy (hit, stand, double down and other decisions). Most counting systems assign point values to the actual card values, with some of the cards being given positive values and others being given negative values. A running sum is maintained by the card counter of all of the cards that have been played. This sum, or "running deck value", is modified by the card counter to take into account the number of cards that have not yet been played, and yields the "true deck count". The magnitude of the true deck count provides an indication of the "richness" of the remaining deck for the player. It provides a measure of the likelihood of high value cards (i.e., tens and aces) being drawn. A high true deck count indicates an excess of high value cards in the cards remaining to be played and a low true deck count indicates an excess of low value cards in the cards remaining to be played. A Blackjack player that keeps track of these card counts, "the card counter", can adjust his wagering and playing decisions to take into account this additional information. Card counting and strategy adjustment according to card count can significantly alter the odds in favor of the card counting Blackjack player and against the casino.
In order for Blackjack to be a profitable venture for the casinos, it has been found to be necessary either to bar the card counters from the casino or to change the rules and procedures under which the game is played. It is obvious, particularly to those familiar with the game of Blackjack, that many rule and procedure changes are possible. However, not so obvious is the fact that rule and procedure changes have not been determined that satisfy the multiple objectives of (a) providing a profitable venture for the casinos with card counters playing and (b) not appreciably altering the game for the novice or basic player.
Barring card counters has precipitated a plurality of civil rights court actions. In addition to being expensive to conduct such ligations, it has been found that state gambling commissions have been reluctant to bar card counters and consequently casinos are in a quandry as to the best solution to this vexed problem.
One solution adopted by the casinos is to increase the number of decks utilized by the dealer in playing Blackjack. Thus six or eight decks are commonly utilized and dealt from a card dispenser or shoe. As the cards are removed from the shoe they are utilized in the play of the hands and then placed in a discard rack. When a cut-card marker is encountered, the cards remaining in the shoe plus those in the discard rack are shuffled and then replaced in the shoe. Thus the "richness" of the deck is substantially reduced limiting a card counter's ability to predict the remaining cards and hence affect his strategy of play. The disadvantage of such a technique with respect to the casino is that shuffling six or eight decks takes a relatively long time, which reduces the play and hence the profits of the casino.